Reflection #2

Brittany Freeman

MCS 355

2/28/17

Reflection #2

6 Strategies for Successful Business Engagement on Social Media 

There is no doubt that social media marketing is a key element in the growth and success of a business. However, many businesses do not realize that social media presence is not enough. The key to marketing a business is with social media engagement. Do you feel as though you're lost when it comes to your businesses social media presence? Do you feel like you're not sure how to engage with users and grow a following? Don't worry, many brands have yet to grasp the key strategies of sharing content on social media. According to Andreas Kaplan, “Social Media will be the locomotive via which the World Wide Web evolves. Businesses, take note–—and don’t miss this train!” (Kaplan,  68).  Luckily, with the help of “Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media” by Andreas M. Kaplan, and insight on the do’s and dont’s of social media from “The Right (and Wrong) Way to Do Social Media” written by Aaron Agius from Entrepreneur, I have provided 6 tips to ensure your business successful social media engagement:

1. Locate your target audience. 

 

Before you even begin to put out content on your businesses social media platforms, you must first locate who the audience is that your business is trying to target. To do this, you must evaluate what your business is offering and which group of people that will appeal to the most. As Andres Kaplan states in his article, “each Social Media application usually attracts a certain group of people and firms should be active wherever their customers are present” (Kaplan, 65). Locating your target audience is a necessary first step in growing your social media success. 

2. Optimize platforms strengths.

Although you may have the same goal for your business on all social media accounts, each platform is different and requires a different strategy for gaining and keeping a following. An example Aaron Agius gives in the article “The Right (and Wrong) Way to Do Social Media” says that “Videos tend to outperform images on Facebook. Twitter posts, while no more than 140 characters, should be even shorter if you're including an image. LinkedIn doesn’t support hashtags, so don’t use them. For Twitter and Instagram, hashtags are a necessity” (Agius, 1). As you can see from this example, it is important for a business to understand the elements of every social media platform to receive the full benefits of each. 

3. Engage with your followers.

 

In order to grow the success of your business, it is crucial to develop a long lasting relationship with your audience. It is necessary to have constant connection with the people that are supporting you, and keep them updated on new information regarding your business. Actively engage in conversations with customers, but remember to make it personalized. No one wants to interact with a social media account that sounds like a robot is running it. Straight to the point, if you are producing content, your followers are there to consume it, and if you give them nothing to consume and engage in then your business will be in jeopardy. In Andres Kaplan’s article, “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media” he notes five key points necessary for socializing with your following which are: be active, be interesting, be humble, be unprofessional, and be honest. By combining all of these key points, you will be on the right track to positively engaging with your following. 

4. Stay away from spammy content. 

While keeping your specific social media outlets updating is necessary for audience engagement, if you post too much or too often, the amount of users that interact with and see your post might decline. No one likes seeing multiple posts in a row for one social media account they follow. This type of action within your social media could damage your companies reputation. According to Aaron Agius from Entrepreneur, “reputation has significant implications for how firms should effectively engage social media” (Agius, 1). Spamming your audiences news feed with posts can give followers the impression that you post too much, and are an annoyance to follow. To avoid this, have a schedule for when you plan on posting specific content, this will keep your social media outlets organized and under control. 

5. Utilize multiple social media platforms.

While having one social media platform where you constantly update, and engage with your followers is a good starting point, your business will not grow further unless you engage in a wide variety of social media platforms. With every social media comes a different group of users who could possibly benefit from your business, so having presence on all major outlets will lead to more followers, which will lead to more business and success. However, as Aaron Agius says, "One or two active social accounts will look better to your audience than six abandoned brand accounts" (Agius, 1). If you are using multiple social media platforms, make sure to constantly interact with all of them equally! 

6. Stay genuine.

And last but not least, remember to stay genuine. Remember what your business stands for and believes in, and put that into everything you post on social media. Andres Kaplan makes a great point saying “If there is one certain path to failure, it involves thinking that Social Media is just about posting existing TV spots on YouTube or putting prefabricated press announcements on corporate blogs” (Kaplan, 66). If you believe in what you're posting, treat your followers with respect, and stay honest, you will gain long lasting followers that will lead to the success and growth of your business.  

Works Cited

Agius, Aaron. “The Right (and Wrong) Way to Do Social Media.” Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur Media, Inc. August 1, 2016. Accessed February 27, 2017. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/278848  

Kaplan, Andreas M., “Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media,” Business Horizons (2010) 53, 59-68 (PDF)